


In Motion

by oceanicinception



Category: SKAM (France)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Campfires, Eliott is one of the new hires, M/M, Stargazing, and just good summer vibes all around, camp activities, canoeing, get ready for:, includes social media content, le grew are camp counsellors, the gang's all here basically - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:48:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25459585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceanicinception/pseuds/oceanicinception
Summary: Lucas has spent every summer as far back as he can remember at Echo Hill: a summer camp located on 30 acres of sprawling forests and crystal blue lakes in the South of France. It's where he met all of his closest friends, and where they've all returned to work as counsellors for the last few years.It's now the summer before Lucas' final year of high school, and he's looking forward to spending 2 months with his friends in his favourite place in the world, taking comfort in the way things here seem to always remain the same, year after year, unchanging.What he hadn't been anticipating, however, was Eliott Demaury.or: a Skam France summer camp AU
Relationships: Eliott Demaury/Lucas Lallemant
Comments: 31
Kudos: 72





	1. Changes

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! 
> 
> I’m super excited and also pretty nervous to finally be posting this. I’ve had the idea for this fic ever since the whole s5 farm episode and the chaotic energy that was le grew doing morning chores, but I only just got around to writing it last month.
> 
> As of now I’m planning to stick to a weekly updating schedule, but this is my first time writing anything with multiple chapters or of this length, so please bear with me! I promise I fully intend to finish the fic tho, I already have the first few chapters written and the entire thing is outlined in detail.
> 
> Some logistic stuff:
> 
> I know that summer camp as it exists here in Canada and in the U.S. isn’t really a thing in France (at least from my understanding), but for the purposes of this fic I’m pretending it is bc I didn’t really want to make them American 😅
> 
> Lucas and le grew are going into their final year of high school, Eliott has just graduated and is going into his first year of university (repeated a year like in canon)
> 
> The characters still live in Paris/just outside of Paris, but they all attend different schools during the year.
> 
> I’ve made a spotify playlist for this fic that I’ll be updating as I write as well, which you can find [here](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3wJ9YtetzKFDRoivIpZWxf?si=eqBt_7sBSxmYCTzqMlcCUQ)
> 
> Also, for any text-to-speech users: I have written out image descriptions for all of the social media content included in this fic which can be accessed on pastebin [here](https://pastebin.com/c7HzRfyJ). I have numbered each image when embedding them and will be making separate pastes for each chapter, so hopefully it’s fairly easy to locate everything. This is my first time doing this, so if anyone using this has any problems or if it would help for me to change anything with this system please let me know!
> 
> Ok I think that’s it for now, sorry for the rambling lol. Hope you enjoy!

When Lucas had first arrived at the campgrounds that morning, breathing in the damp, earthy smell of the forest as he stepped out of the van he and the boys had borrowed to drive down from the city, his first thought had been _some things never change._

It was a comforting thought to Lucas, whose life so far had been a seemingly never-ending series of changes- not all of them good.

From his father walking out on him and his mother countless times over the years whenever he decided they were too much for him to deal with, to his mother’s constant mood swings and unpredictable behaviour that had coloured his childhood, to having to move out and live on his own when she had been institutionalized, Lucas had always felt that his life was not in his control, not really, and that he was destined to sit on the sidelines and watch as things happened to him.

But here, as silly as he knew it probably sounded, this was the one place where Lucas had always felt in control.

It had been the only constant for him growing up: that no matter what happened in the other 10 months of the year, he could always look forward to being dropped off at camp at the beginning of July and reuniting with the same friends, doing the same activities, and being able to live in a sort of bubble, where, just for those 2 months, time didn’t seem to exist and he could ignore whatever was happening in the outside world.

It was immensely comforting, and it was this sense of comfort and safety that had brought him back year after year, before he eventually joined the team as a counsellor once he was too old to attend as a camper anymore.

And standing there, watching as his friends gathered their bags out of the trunk, Basile already talking Arthur’s ear off about how this would be the year he would finally get Daphne to fall in love with him, he smiles to himself and thinks:

_It’s going to be a good summer._

******

******

“Lulu! Come get your bags!” Yann yells from the back of the van, pulling Lucas from his thoughts “I’m not carrying your shit for you.”

“Yeah, coming!” he responds, taking one last look at the wind rustling the tree branches around him, before turning and jogging back over to where the boys are currently struggling to carry the mountain of duffel bags, backpacks, and sleeping bags that they’ve dumped out onto the road.

Lucas reaches across Arthur’s shoulder to slam the back door of the van closed before stuffing his own rolled up sleeping bag and pillow under one arm and grabbing a few more bags from his friends with his free hand.

He feels the gravel crunching below the soles of his shoes as they make their way over to the camp’s entrance, the familiar, faded wooden sign welcoming them with the words “Echo Hill Camp: Est. 1965”

“Do you think the girls are here already?” Basile asks them from his position at the front of the group, turning his head and narrowly avoiding tripping on a stone sticking out of the ground as he stumbles to keep hold of the bags he’s carrying.

“Alexia says they’re just down the road from here” Arthur answers while glancing at his phone before tucking it back into his pocket.

Yann and Lucas hum in acknowledgement from beside him, and Yann asks “how’s that going, by the way?”

“Hmm?”

“You and Alexia?” Yann clarifies with a vague gesture of his free hand.

“Oh that” Lucas can hear the smile in Arthur’s voice and looks to his side to see that his friend is looking in front of him with a happy, unfocused expression.

“It’s going good, I think. She’s just… amazing, really.” He trails off softly.

The two of them had seemed to be dancing around each other for months now, and Lucas was happy for the both of them that they had finally gotten together. They seemed to be really good together, if Arthur’s happier demeanour lately was any indication.

“I didn’t know how long it would last with my hearing loss and everything, but yeah, it’s been good. Alex has really been my rock through all of this to be honest- and you guys of course” he says while looking between all of them gratefully.

The past year had been especially difficult for Arthur, as he had started to lose the hearing in his right ear over the winter months. He hadn’t told the rest of them much at first, not wanting to worry them, but they had tried to be there for their friend as much as they could with attending separate schools and not being able to hang out together as much as they would like. He’d eventually opened up to them about the fact that he hadn’t been able to hear properly with his left ear for a while, and about his father’s abuse, and Lucas felt it had brought the two of them closer in a way, since he also had a lot of experience in the area of shitty fathers and the effect that they can have you.

Lucas tilted his free arm at the elbow to pat his friend on the arm reassuringly, and the four of them smiled at each other, the excitement of the upcoming two months and all of the fun they were going to have really beginning to hit them. It was a feeling that was incomparable to anything else Lucas had ever felt, and he almost wished that he could pause this moment to just live in it for a bit, letting himself relish in the simple joy that came from being with his friends in the place he loved most in the world.

******

******

Once they’ve reached the main building of the camp, the four of them check themselves in with the administrative assistant, who tells them to meet by the flagpole outside around the back of the building. Lucas follows the other boys out the back entrance to see that a few of the other staff members have already arrived.

Yann’s friend Alex, who Lucas has met a few times, is talking to a few of the older counsellors and summons him and Yann over with a smile when he sees them.

Arthur drops his bags down beside their feet with a sigh and a scuff of his shoe in the dirt, followed closely by Basile, before they turn to talk to Sofiane, who Lucas figures is also waiting for the girls to show up.

He tries to focus on Yann and Alex’s conversation, which has now seemed to steer to each of their dating lives, but finds himself zoning out after a few minutes and directs his attention towards the towering trees surrounding them as well as the groups of new staff members that are slowly arriving.

A few minutes later the girls arrive as well, Emma running ahead, leading the group, with the others close behind. They all take a few minutes to excitedly catch up with everything that’s happened in their lives over the past few months that they had all been too busy with school to hang out very much, before they’re being summoned over to the centre of the patch of grass they’re all standing on.

“Alright everyone, if you could all gather around me for a minute” Thomas, the head coordinator that year, calls out. His golden blonde hair and bright red shirt emblazoned with the camp’s name accompanied by a cartoon-style logo of a tent and campfire stands out in the sea of green grass, trees, and scattered weeds that surround them, a tall flagpole standing proudly in the middle with a large flag fluttering gently up in the clouds.

“Ok so first things first, let’s go around and introduce ourselves- I know most of you already know each other very well by now, but we do have a few new members of the team this year, so if you could all just say your name and what your role is” he finishes, motioning at Yann who is closest to him while everyone else falls into place around the two to form a large circle.

“Hey everyone!” Yann starts with a wave and a smile, ever the charismatic one of the group “I’m Yann and I’ll be running the sports activities this year.”

“My name’s Emma, and I’ll be working in the arts and crafts centre” Emma follows, making finger guns with her hands awkwardly before turning to Lucas.

“I’m Lucas” he states, looking around and taking in some of the new faces among the group “and uh, I’ll be running all the nighttime activities.”

“Hey guys I’m Basile” Basile says loudly enough that it pulls Lucas’ gaze away from the other side of the circle, looking directly at Daphne with an awestruck look in his eyes that honestly has Lucas feeling second-hand embarrassment “and I’ll be helping Yann with the sports activities.”

“My name’s Arthur” Arthur states, thankfully intercepting Basile’s attention away from Daphne as he fiddles with one of his hearing aids “and I’ll be working in the archery field.”

The girls had been standing beside them when they arrived, and so Manon follows, “I’m Manon, and I’ll be working in the kitchens this year” she says with a smile.

Next is Chloe, who announces shyly that she will also be working in the kitchens with Manon as she looks over to where Lucas is standing and smiles hesitantly at him in greeting.

The two of them hadn’t been on the best terms with when they had first started working as counsellors due to Lucas feeling pressured into being in a relationship with her, which had resulted in him admittedly leading her on a bit and her being angry at him for a while.

Eventually he had apologized and she acknowledged that she had been a bit harsh towards him, and so the other girls had kind of taken her into their group since she hadn’t attended the camp as a kid and had been the odd one out in their age group. He’s talked to her a few times since then and they’ve more or less managed to put aside their differences, and he finds he much prefers having her in his life as a friend- or, maybe not quite a friend, but at least as a casual acquaintance.

Beside her is Daphne, who looks the most excited to be there out of all of them. “Hello everyone, I’m Daphne” she introduces herself somewhat nervously “and- I’m going to be the junior program coordinator this year.”

“I’m Imane, and I’ll be working in the archery field with Arthur” Imane states confidently, turning her head to where the boys are standing to give Arthur a quick smile of acknowledgement which he returns quickly.

“Hey! My name’s Sofiane, and I’m one of the boat instructors and lifeguards” Sofiane announces next, with the same warm, calm quality to his voice that always seemed to draw the kids to him like magnets every year.

“Helloo I’m Alexia” Alexia says enthusiastically “and I’ll be doing arts and crafts with Emma!” the two stick their hands out in an air high-five to each other across the circle.

They continue through introductions like this before finally reaching the end of the circle where the new arrivals were standing. Lucas listens as they introduce themselves with a disinterested expression on his face, finding his eyes trailing off languidly as he takes in his surroundings. Most of them are a few years older than him and his friends and are working in the administration department, so he figures that he won’t be seeing much of them while he’s here anyway.

Eventually Lucas forces his attention back to the circle, and in doing so finds that they have nearly made their way to the end of the group, where a boy is standing who may be the most beautiful person he’s ever seen. Lucas does a double take and can immediately feel his cheeks heat up, his breath hitching as he stops to take in the thought.

He wills himself to focus on a patch of dirt just below his shoe instead of the boy’s intense blue-gray eyes that remind Lucas of storm clouds and rain and which he finds are looking back at him when he chances a glance up again.

The boy brings his eyes away from Lucas’ side of the circle when Imane’s brother Idriss, who’s standing beside him, nudges him gently with his elbow. “Oh sorry, uh, I’m Eliott” he says “and I’ll be working in the arts and crafts centre with Alexia and Emma as the program coordinator” he gestures to each of them a bit nervously, probably confirming that he remembered their names correctly, and they both smile friendily at him.

Once he’s finished he looks back down again, and Lucas finds himself unconsciously blocking out he names and roles of the last few new members as he observes the new boy- Eliott, he corrects himself quickly- watching intently as the other members of the team introduce themselves and Lucas flicks his eyes down to the boy’s lips for a few seconds to see the corner of his mouth pull up in a small smile of support for the other members of the staff team.

“Ok great!” Thomas states overenthusiastically once the last person has been introduced, yanking Lucas suddenly from his daze. “So as many of you probably know” he starts, “the next few days will be a bit of a training/bonding weekend for all of the counsellors and other staff before our campers arrive on Monday, since we want you all to feel confident and comfortable with each other for these next 7 weeks.”

“We’ll be spending more time on training and logistics tomorrow, but for now I’m going to split you all off into your cabin groups- which for those who aren’t familiar, is who you’ll be sharing a cabin with while you’re here- and we’ll start the activities from there.”

With one last check at something on his clipboard, he flips the stack of papers down over it and begins calling out names.

The groups were pretty similar to the previous years Lucas had been working there due to the ages of the counsellors, with himself and the gang in one cabin (an announcement that had Basile cheering loudly and immediately reaching over to punch them all in the shoulder as Lucas rubbed at his arm and swore under his breath), the girls in another, and then the older staff members split up into the remaining groups depending on their roles.

Lucas mentally takes note of the fact that Eliott had been placed in a cabin with Idriss, trying not to think too much about why he cares about where the other boy will be sleeping.

They’re then given directions to the cabins they’ll be staying in to drop off their belongings, and are told to meet back at the main building afterwards for the activities they’ll be doing that day. Lucas has to stop himself from groaning at the thought- he knows from previous experience that most of them are a complete waste of time, and involve things like trust falls and other supposed “team building” activities.

In his experience, he’s found that he real bonding with the other counsellors comes once the kids arrive and they actually start doing their jobs. There’s nothing that will bond a group a group of people together quite like being placed in charge of a group of 50 or so school-aged children for 2 months in an isolated area of the wilderness.

******

******

After they finished the first round of activities and everyone had been given a break to eat and socialize while gathered around the picnic tables, Emma had stood up to throw the rest of her sandwich and its wrapper at the bin on the other side of the table, missing spectacularly but unabashedly moving to pick it up again.

“Hey guys, we should play tetherball!” she calls out to the group of tables beside them where the others are sitting, under the shade of some trees with some small wooden playground equipment in between them.

Lucas smiles over at her gratefully when their eyes meet, knowing that she knows the tetherball pit is one of his favourite parts of the campground. It had been where he had first met Yann, during their first summer at the camp when they were both seven years old.

It had been Lucas’ first time being away from his mother for a long stretch of time, and he had been missing her terribly, and this combined with his shyness at that age had meant that he hadn’t really made any friends the first week. But then Yann had seen him sitting on the swing by himself and had asked him if he wanted to play, and the two had spent countless hours hitting the ball back and forth to each other over the years.

Lucas had gotten quite good at the game, and eventually gained a bit of a reputation at the camp for being the best out of everyone after building a years-long winning streak that had yet to be beaten. He took pride in his tetherball abilities seeing as he was completely hopeless at any other sport, and this was something that he was good at (and kind of enjoyed showing off with if he was being completely honest).

He sits back and watched as some of the other took turns hitting the yellow ball around the pole, the dull _thwack_ of palms hitting hard rubber resounding through the woods.

None of the games lasted too long, and eventually Yann comes over to drag him up to play a round.

Dusting off his jeans as his friends cheered him on, he waves them off with a shrug as he walks over to stand in front of the pole.

“Alright, who’s playing Lucas?” Yann questioned while looking around at all of them, eyes narrowing as if in challenge.

“More like who wants to lose while getting aggressively smacked in the face with a hard rubber ball” Arthur mumbled, the others laughing while Lucas looked over at him offended- he wasn’t _that_ bad.

“Can I try?” the new boy, or Eliott, Lucas corrected himself, moved to the front of the group. Lucas hadn’t seen him sitting with the others, and he guesses he must have just showed up.

“Sure” Lucas forces out, hoping the reply comes off as cool and easy rather than revealing the sense of having the air knocked out of him that he feels at seeing the boy’s face again, this time with his stormy gaze directed right at Lucas. Only at Lucas.

_Fuck._

_Get a grip,_ he tells himself in his head, trying to spin this as an opportunity to show off a bit in front of someone who hasn’t seen him play yet.

“Cool” Eliott says with a smile, which Lucas feels his stomach flip at. He averts his eyes from Eliott’s abruptly to focus on stretching his arm behind him to loosen up his shoulder, and shrugs off his jacket to hand to Yann who steps back into the group that has now formed around them to watch the game.

He looks up again to see that Eliott is still watching him intently, and he grabs the top of the ball that is tied to the pole with a thick piece of string. He curves his fingers and splays them over the rough surface as he brings his other hand up, palm open, ready to strike.

He takes one last look at Eliott’s face and raises his eyebrows in silent question, receiving a small nod in response, and serves the ball.

Eliott hits it back sharply, and the two of them continue back and forth on the right side of the pole for a few hits, neither managing to get the ball past a half rotation around.

They continue on this way for what Lucas thinks is probably at least a few minutes, his focus narrowing in on the blurred yellow of the ball whizzing past him, the sound of rubber hitting skin pulling him into an easy trance that makes the voices of his friends behind him seem to fade away temporarily.

Eventually Lucas finds himself raising his arm up higher each time he hits the ball back to Eliott, and he allows himself to takes his eyes off the ball for a second as he takes in the height difference between them.

_you would have to stand on your tiptoes to kiss him,_ his brain supplies traitorously as he desperately wills the thought away.

But too late-

In the span of the few seconds that he wasn’t paying attention, Eliott has managed to get in a particularly hard hit, high enough that it just slightly slips past Lucas’ reach as he jumps with his arm outstretched, and before he knows it the ball has already made two rotations on Eliott’s side.

_come, on, focus,_ he tells himself harshly, quickly shaking his head before returning the ball again and shifting his feet slightly to steady himself.

They continue in a similar rhythm as before now, the ball smoothly being passed back and forth between them, and finally Lucas manages to get it past Eliott once by aiming it just low enough that he has to reach down and bend his knees to hit it, fumbling as he rightens himself again.

He then has to step forward slightly to push the ball past his own body and back to Eliott’s side again, and in doing so raises his head on impulse to find Eliott staring right back at him, a slight smirk on his face and his cheeks flushed, hair slightly flattened by the sweat now pooling on his forehead.

Lucas can almost feel himself completely blanking out, his brain unable to form any kind of coherent thought at the sight. He has the sensation of the world around them fading away as if it were a vignette, until it’s just the two of them standing across from each other, everything else a blackened blur in Lucas’ peripheral vision.

He cannot seem to move his eyes away from Eliott’s, as though suddenly seized by the grey, thundering storm clouds within them, and he finds himself wishing he could look at them forever, until he was drenched and cold to the bone, until the rumble of thunder was all he could hear and the flash of lightning all he could see.

The cries of his friends echo through his head and he feels himself coming back into his body as they grow louder.

He then realizes that they are cheering for Eliott, who, while Lucas was busy being paralysed by, well, _Eliott_ , has somehow hit the ball past Lucas enough times that the rope is now only about 30 centimetres long, stretched taut towards the bottom of the metal post, so that he now has to bend down even further, his eyes now directed away from Lucas and focused completely on the ball.

Lucas watches helplessly as he hits it another time around the pole, and before he can step close enough and lean down to hit it back, it whizzes past with one final _thwack_ of Eliott’s hand, before wrapping completely around the thin metal.

Lucas can only gape at Eliott in confusion as the ball is pushed backwards by the force of the rope, beginning to unravel itself quickly at first, then slowing down as the rope gradually lengthens.

Eliott has the nerve to look shocked at having beat Lucas, as everyone gathers around him excitedly, the girls patting him on the back and the other boys congratulating him loudly.

“Broo that was incredible!” Alexia screams as she comes running up to him, jumping up and down excitedly.

Lucas watches as the corners of Eliott’s mouth which had been turned down in a focused frown pull up until his face is split with a wide grin, his eyes seeming to slightly disappear behind his eyelids as they form crescents that Lucas thinks could rival the beauty of the moon.

He feels his breath being taken away for the umpteenth time that morning, but this time not because of Eliott’s stupid, beautiful face, but due to Basile flinging all of his weight at Lucas’ back, Yann and Arthur following close behind as they each punch him lightly on his shoulders while he stumbles forward.

“Three cheers for the first one of us to beat Echo Hill’s reigning champion of tetherball!” Basile calls out with his arms raised above Lucas’ head, pitching his voice obnoxiously as he draws out the last few words while directing a shit-eating grin at Lucas from beside him, his eyes sparkling with mirth.

Lucas glares pointedly at him, crossing his arms grumpily as the group dissolves into a steady chant of Eliott’s name. He watches as the new boy is swallowed by the small crowd of his friends, and, with their cheers and chants echoing loudly through the trees, they lead him away to the tables where everyone gathers their things and begins to make their way back to the main building for the remainder of the afternoon’s activities.

Lucas follows slowly behind, scuffing the toe of his foot into the dirt harshly as he tries to will away the thought of Eliott’s face lit up in a blinding smile.

“Hey bro, you ok?” he turns to see Yann jogging catch up with him, a small backpack slung over one shoulder and a slightly concerned expression on his face.

“Yeah, yeah I’m good” he reassures him distractedly, bumping his shoulder against his friend’s with a small smile.

“…you sure?” Yann questions again, turning his head to face Lucas head on with concern still radiating from his eyes. “It’s just that I’ve never seen you lose to anyone that quickly.”

“Yeah, I just… I don’t know, my hand slipped and then I just wasn’t focused enough, I guess” he trails off, knowing it’s a weak explanation for someone who hasn’t been beaten by any of the staff at the camp for years, but he hopes Yann won’t question him any further.

He looks beside him to see Yann nodding slowly, looking down at the ground. The concern in his face doesn’t completely go away, but he seems content to drop the matter for now.

“Ok well, hey-“ he looks up at Lucas again with a smile “wanna be partners for the egg and spoon challenge later?” he raises his eyebrows, knowing full well that Lucas hates the stupid “team building” games that they’re all forced to do every year as much he does.

“Uh, of _course_ I do” Lucas replies with a fond smile “otherwise who’s going to get revenge on Arthur and Basile for last year?” images of himself and Yann covered in egg yolks accompanied by Basile’s loud, snorting laughter flood his mind, and he can feel the exasperated fondness for he has for his friends pierce through his heart.

“Well, let’s go then!” Yann says as he grabs Lucas’ shoulder, and Lucas tries to convey his gratitude for his friend through a smile that finally reaches his eyes, letting out a small laugh as Yann pulls him along down the dirt path.

******

******

******

******

The following day was filled with many long, boring, grueling hours of mandatory training, which mainly consisted of sitting on the hard wooden benches in the dining cabin for hours while listening to the same repetitive presentations from the previous year. By mid-afternoon, Lucas was beginning to feel a dull pounding in his temples and was ready to go back to their cabin and sleep until he was forced to wake up and deal with a bunch of hyper, rowdy kids for the next 2 months.

He hadn’t seen Eliott since he had left the tetherball pit with all Lucas’ friends the day before, but he had certainly _heard_ about him: his victory over Lucas seemed to be all any of his friends could talk about, and it was honestly starting to get a bit annoying.

For the time being he was just trying to put Eliott out of his mind as much as he could, and between his splitting headache and being almost put to sleep by the numerous presentations on more than one occasion, it seemed to be working alright so far.

******

After they had all stopped for dinner and had had some time to relax before facing the hectic schedule that was sure to define the next few days, they all piled into the girls’ cabin for a small party of sorts at Emma’s suggestion that they play truth or drink “while they still could” (even though Lucas knew from past experience she and Arthur at least would still find a way to partake in drinking and smoking weed after the kids arrived).

He had managed to avoid Eliott so far for the rest of the weekend, a feat that he wasn’t sure made him happy or sad.

He had spent most of the previous 24 hours telling himself that it didn’t matter anyway, soon enough everyone would forget about the whole tetherball incident, and he would be so busy working once the kids arrived tomorrow that he wouldn’t have time to think about how Eliott’s caramel-brown hair shone in the warm afternoon sunlight, in a way that only seemed to emphasize the effortlessly messy style he wore it in, or how his eyes seemed capable of pulling him underwater and drowning him if he looked at them for too long.

But he hadn’t been able to avoid taking note of the fact that Eliott had arrived with what seemed like a few of his friends- one was Imane’s brother Idriss, the others Lucas didn’t recognize, so he figured they must be older than him- about 20 minutes into their game, and settled on one of the small couches in the corner of the room, the dim lighting in the cabin quickly engulfing him in its shadows.

Lucas’ headache and bad mood from earlier had mostly gone away by now, and he was enjoying the company of his friends and the warm feeling of being slightly buzzed from a couple of beers. So far they had learned that Alexia, who had resolutely (and somewhat drunkenly) announced that she could “appreciate attractiveness when she saw it”, would sleep with over half of the people in the room (hypothetically, of course, if she wasn’t already in a relationship), that Arthur had once had a one-night stand with a 34-year-old woman, and that Daphne was a virgin (all things which Lucas honestly didn’t have any need or want to know), before it was Manon’s turn.

She brushed her hair from one side of her face before looking around the room, deciding on the next victim.

“Lucas!” she exclaimed with a knowing grin as her eyes finally landed on him.

_Great._

She tapped her chin, seemingly deep in thought as she decided on the most embarrassing and incriminating thing she could ask him.

“Ooh I know!” she finally yelled, sitting up on her knees excitedly as she held up her drink to avoid spilling it on the bunk bed she was sitting on.

“What’s the furthest you’ve gone with a girl?”

He narrowed his eyes at her in a way that he hoped would hide his mental panic at the question. His mind was instantly flooded with memories of being kissed by girls in primary school, their lips tacky with lip gloss and tasting too sweet, or the way his first girlfriend Sarah had grabbed his face with both hands before drawing him in to kiss him lightly, her soft palms feeling like prison bars as the overly sweet smell of her shampoo flooded his senses. He was then transported back to the times with Chloe last year, where she had pinned him up against one of the cabin walls and kissed his neck while she pulled at the top buttons of his shirt, his breath coming out choked and uneven as her hands trailed lower and lower across his chest before he pushed her away.

He suddenly felt woozy in a way that he was pretty sure wasn’t from the two beers he had had so far, and he stilled himself as he snatched his drink from the floor beside the bed he was leaning against, squeezing his eyes shut as he chased away the images with a long gulp of the amber liquid, wrinkling his nose at the way it burned his throat.

Everyone immediately let out a series of _oooh_ s and scandalized cries of his name, but he pushed down the fear that gripped him at the reactions, trying to look as suave as possible as he shifted his weight to lean harder against the bedframe, hoping that they were a result of them thinking he had gone much further than kissing and just didn’t want to spill the details.

Emma’s voice announcing that it was her turn finally pulled Lucas from his misery, and he let out a sigh of relief as he felt the others’ eyes move away from his side of the room, feeling like he could finally breathe again.

“Eliott! You haven’t been asked anything yet” she says with a playful smirk, her words slightly slurring together.

Lucas can’t help but notice that Eliott seems to tense up at the attention, his shoulders rising almost up to his ears and the corners of his mouth turning down into a tight frown.

“What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?” It’s a relatively tame and open-ended question compared to many of the things that have been asked tonight, but for some reason Eliott’s gaze seems to harden at the words and he immediately brings a hand to his lips to run two fingers over the closed-off frown that lies there.

Finally, he seems to have considered his options and reaches for the drink on the coffee table in front of him, accompanied by the drawn-out _ooh_ ing and cries of amusement from the others. The only one who doesn’t appear to be enjoying himself is Idriss, who had been promoted to working in the intake department that year, and who, going by the way that he directed an almost angry glare to his side before watching Eliott with what Lucas thought looked like concern as he whispered in his ear, must be close with the other boy, or at least knew him fairly well.

Eliott seemed to perk up slightly at whatever he had said, nodding and quickly wrapping his free hand around Idriss’ shoulder and squeezing with a grateful smile on his face before returning his attention to the group, now looking slightly more relaxed, although Lucas didn’t miss the way his shoulders were still pulled up towards his ears.

Eventually it started to get late and since they all knew that they would be up early the next day with many days of busy work ahead of them, everyone slowly dispersed and headed back out into the woods to walk back to their own cabins.

Lucas watched as Eliott lifted himself up from the couch and looked around at the group he had been sitting with, talking quietly and patting a couple of them on the back. He dropped his eyes down to his feet quickly as he saw Idriss grab Eliott’s arm to presumably drag him past the beds he was still leaning against and out the door of the cabin, not wanting to deal with the intensity of the other boy’s gaze again until he was sober enough to push down the feelings it pulled from him.

******

******

Once everyone else had trailed slowly out the door, he and the boys stay back to help clean up the scattered mess of empty beer bottles that had been left behind. They were all either too tired or too drunk to talk much, so the work went fairly quickly, and soon enough they were being gently corralled out the door by Daphne, who told them they would need their sleep for “all of the work she was going to have them doing tomorrow” before closing the door in their faces.

“She does realize that she’s not in charge of us, right?” Arthur asks as they file down the wood steps and turn to follow the now dark path back to their own cabin.

Baz shoots him an outraged look as Yann rolls his eyes in agreement. “I mean, it’s Daphne bro, she’s probably more in charge of us than the actual admin staff are. Between her and Imane…” he trails off as they all nod.

Lucas would never admit it to anyone, much less to Imane herself, but she can be quite intimidating when she wants to be. It’s what has also allowed her to gain her reputation as one of the go-to counsellors for when any of the kids are acting up and need to be given a stern lecture. Lucas shivers slightly on behalf of a rowdy 8-year-old boy who last year had been on the receiving end of Imane’s fiery stare due to running off from his group too many times.

Lucas looks up then to see that they’ve arrived in front of their cabin- the wood walls darkened and mossy in the cool summer night air.

Basile enters first and pulls the string of the warm overhead light that dangles in front of them to turn it on, the light made dimmer by the fact that two of its four bulbs have long been burnt out and never replaced. The sounds of hands shuffling through bags and zippers being pulled fills the narrow walls of the room and covers their tired silences. They then take turns brushing their teeth in the bathroom that’s connected to their bedroom- so small it’s really more of an alcove with a brownish red-tinged sink and dusty mirror on one wall and a toilet on the other than anything.

As he climbs into the bottom bed of the bunk that he’s sharing with Yann, he’s struck again by the thought that although so much has changed for all of them over the years, here, within these four worn down, scratched walls, nothing’s really changed much at all.

He’s immediately transported back to the first time they were all placed in a cabin together- it had been his and Yann’s third year at the camp and Arthur and Basile’s first, and the four of them had spent each night taking turns making up stories to tell by the light of a flashlight, splitting Baz’s stash of various snacks among themselves and dissolving into laughter as they threw the wadded-up wrappers at each other across the room from the top bunks.

He lies in bed with the warm embrace of his childhood memories surrounding him, but its only as his thoughts eventually toe past the edge of sleep and he feels himself drifting off that his dreams are coloured by swirling images of green-grey eyes, brown hair tinged with golden highlights sticking up at all ends, and blinding smiles that remind him of the summer sun beating down on his back in the middle of July.

And somewhere along the line, a voice passes through, whispering softly,

_maybe, just maybe, change doesn’t always have to be bad._

******

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so that tetherball scene is probably the most extra thing I've ever written but I kind of like the idea of Eliott just showing up and being good at everything and Lucas being annoyed at him for it 😅
> 
> [Here's](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lptiuRr3e5U) a link to a video about how to play tetherball in case anyone doesn't know what it is as well (I didn't really follow the actual rules here since I never played it with specific rules as a kid, but I figured this might be helpful if anyone's confused).
> 
> I’m also on tumblr at [oceanicinception](https://oceanicinception.tumblr.com) if anyone wants to come share their thoughts on this or anything else :)
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


	2. Pulling Closer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is here! Sorry it’s a few days later than I had planned, but I ended up deciding to rewrite a big section which took me awhile, and then I had to deal with some big decisions for university over the weekend so I didn’t have time to finish the social media stuff until today. Hopefully the length makes up for it though ;)
> 
> Also I just want to say thank you so so much for all of the support on this fic so far, I was pretty nervous to start writing a multichapter fic and share it, so it means a lot to me that people are actually reading and enjoying what I write 💙 
> 
> The playlist for the fic is [here](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3wJ9YtetzKFDRoivIpZWxf?si=a8uzWXCJSWK2y4tor-4tVg), and the songs for this chapter specifically start at Wildflower (if you want the full soundtrack experience that I pictured in my head lol)
> 
> Image descriptions for the social media content are [here](https://pastebin.com/pGR8x632) for anyone who needs them.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Lucas wakes up the next day to the blaring volume of Basile’s phone alarm, the opening notes of Smash Mouth’s All Star pulling him from his sleep with a groan.

He rubs his eyes and looks to his side to see that Arthur is being gracefully woken up by his own alarm- in the form of Baz lobbing a pillow at his head from the bed above him- which results in him mumbling a few vague insults before reaching for his hearing aids that he’s balanced on top of the headboard.

Yann swings one leg around the rickety ladder connecting him to Lucas’ bed and drops himself down on the floor with a gentle thud.

“Morning” he breaks the silence with a yawn, voice still rough with sleep, a sound that briefly brings Lucas back to the days of his ill-fated crush before he pushes the thought from his head tiredly.

“C’mon guys, get up!” Basile shouts from behind the bathroom door where he had slipped off to get ready, his voice slightly muffled. He pokes his head around the frame, toothbrush sticking out of his mouth, white foam forming around his lips and his hair mostly flattened in the front from how he’d slept on it.

“The kids’ll be arriving in a few hours, we’ve gotta get a head start on getting everything ready-”

“Alright, alright, don’t get your panties in a twist, mom.” Arthur interrupts him while rolling his eyes, slipping out from under his blanket and moving to grab his jeans from the floor.

Lucas squeezes his eyes shut once more before heaving himself away from his pillow, trying not to dwell too much on the fact that he probably won’t be getting more than around 6 hours of sleep again for a while. He throws aside the end of his blue sleeping bag, reaching under the bedframe where he had shoved the bag containing his clothes last night before collapsing into bed. He pulls out a t-shirt and jeans and moves to the side of the room to slip them on as the other boys move around him.

They’re all (well, all except Basile) still too tired to talk much, but the excitement among them is tangible. The first day of camp is always a lot of things: busy, exciting, fun, hectic, and ever since Lucas was a kid he’s loved the way it marks the beginning of something great, the anticipation of what’s to come almost more exciting than the experience itself. The hours, weeks, and months ahead seem to stretch out ahead of them into a never-ending road of possibilities, reminding him of how he had felt on the first day of school as a kid, or when being dropped off at a friend’s house for a sleepover on a Friday evening, or even waiting in line to go on a rollercoaster. The excitement of these things had gradually worn thinner for him as he had gotten older, but the first day of camp never failed to bring him back to the more carefree, innocent days of his childhood.

During his first year as a counsellor, this feeling had been slightly overshadowed by a large bundle of nerves that formed in his stomach and didn’t completely unravel until well into the summer, but now that he had a good idea of what to expect and was being accompanied by all of his closest friends, all he felt was excitement.

Once they had all sluggishly gotten themselves ready (with Baz calling out orders the entire time) they’re all pushed out the door as he goes on about something along the lines of wanting to get there early enough to impress Daphne (Lucas honestly wasn’t really listening by that point), and they head towards the main entrance of the camp where the meal cabin is located.

They’re some of the first to arrive, apart from the admin staff who likely had to be up a lot earlier than they did, and Yann and Arthur sit down on one of the benches to save them a table beside the single window in the cabin that stretches across nearly the entire wall, revealing the rows of tall trees and vibrant rainbow of flowers outside, while Lucas trails after Basile to the kitchens to get their food.

As they enter the short line of people waiting in front of a large serving window in the wall that separates the rows of tables from the kitchens, he looks up to see Manon and Chloe. Chloe has already donned an apron and looks like she’s just getting ready to start work, pulling her hair into a ponytail and shooting Lucas a smile, before she pushes the swinging doors to the kitchens open. Manon is following behind her when she catches sight of Lucas and Basile and turns on her heel to face them.

“Salut!” she greets them both with a small wave and a bright, if not slightly tired, smile.

“Morning!” Lucas replies, Baz turning to face her briefly as well and offering a smile in greeting before turning away again and stepping forward to grab a tray of food from one of the kitchen staff, pushing aside one of the plates to balance a stack of cups.

“How’s everything going in the kitchens so far?” Lucas asks as he steps backward out of the line.

“Oh you know, the first few days are always kind of crazy while we figure everything out, but so far it hasn’t been too bad. Everyone seems really nice anyway, which is good.” She says with another smile, now pulling her hair over one shoulder to slip her head through the loop of the apron she’d been holding draped over one arm and turns around to reach for one of the strings behind her.

“Would you be able to tie this for me?” she asks him over her shoulder, and he nods absently while grabbing the cotton strings to knot them together quickly.

He takes a second to enjoy the brief moment of calm between them, something he hasn’t had the chance to since she had moved out from her room in their shared apartment a few months ago.

He had been forced to move out of the home he had grown up in at the beginning of high school after his mother’s mental health had taken a steady decline, eventually hitting a point where it had been recommended that his father place her in a clinic. Lucas had already been in a significant falling out with his father by that point, and hadn’t wanted to live with him anyway since he had been living about an hour away from Paris- and Lucas’ school- by train.

So his father had eventually, after much discussion and debate, agreed to give him the money to rent a place, and by a complete and total stroke of luck, Manon had contacted him to let him know that one of their- her, Mika’s, and Lisa’s- roommates was moving out, and that they would have a spare room if he wanted it. Combined with the money his father sent him each month and the small amount he was able to save working at the camp over the summers, he had just enough to afford to pay for his rent and food, and it was close enough to his school that he could easily walk.

It definitely hadn’t been easy at times, but he had grown almost as close with Manon over the few years that they had been living together as he was with Yann, and although Mika could be kind of hard to live with at times, and Lisa was… well, Lisa, he was immensely thankful to the three of them for taking him in a time when his own family had been in shambles.

Him and Manon hadn’t had many chances to properly hang out since she had moved out, between him being busy with school and Manon having to settle into a new school and new apartment in London, where she had gone to study abroad for a year and to live with her then-boyfriend Charles. Manon and him had been in touch through messages and frequent phone calls throughout though, and Lucas had been there for her when she had finally decided to break up with Charles and find her own place for the remainder of the term.

He was glad that she had come back to France to work at the camp again that summer, as it would mean that they would have more time to catch up in a way that he had really missed over the previous few months.

He leaves her to rejoin the line beside Basile and let her head back into the kitchen to start work for the day, knowing that like everyone else she’d be incredibly busy preparing for the arrival of the kids later that afternoon.

Lucas himself wouldn’t have too much to do in terms of specific tasks until later in the day, when he would be responsible for setting up the first campfire of the year. The campfires had always been one of his favourite parts of camp as a kid, and he kind of loves that he now got to be in charge of them as a counsellor.

He turns to grab a few things from the trays Basile is balancing on his hands and struggling to carry, placing them onto a separate tray and following him back to their table.

The boys finish their breakfast quickly, discussing their plans for the day before the conversation drifts off to other topics. After returning their trays to the kitchen counter, they stop over at the main building where they get printed copies of their specific schedules for the next few days, with contacts for the various administration personnel in case they need it and any important information about the campers they’ll be responsible for.

Arthur runs into Imane as they’re walking outside, and the two of them leave to make the long walk over to the archery fields to set up for the day, which are tucked far back in the woods so as to avoid the many potential accidents that can result from combining children with bows and arrows.

Yann and Basile then turn off to make their way over to the sports field, and Lucas is left on his own. He decides to make his way across the rest of the campground to see if anyone else needs any help with anything since he’s technically not doing anything else at the moment.

He doesn’t realize that he’s walked right up to the arts and crafts pavilion until he looks up to see the peeling paint of the sign above his head, and with a jolt realizes that this is where Eliott should be.

He peers his head around the wood post in front of him to see Alexia and Emma pulling various art supplies out of a large, clear box on one of the tables. They’re standing amidst the biggest pile of paints, crayons, markers, paper, pipe cleaners, beads, string- and a ton of other things he can’t even identify, that he’s ever seen. He looks around quickly, trying not to bring too much attention to himself, but releases the breath he had been holding when he doesn’t see Eliott anywhere. He’s not sure whether he should feel disappointed at this realization or not, and it’s this thought that has him striding up to the two girls to ask if they need his help with anything, desperate for something to take his mind off the new boy before his thoughts spiral out of control again (and ok, maybe he’s kind of hoping that Eliott will show up later. maybe.)

“Lucas!” Emma shouts as she sees him, smiling before immediately dropping her head back into the pile of colour in front of her, trying to make some order of all of the supplies they’ve been given. Lucas doesn’t think he’s ever seen her so focused on anything before.

Alexia looks up as well and calls out a friendly “salut” in greeting, and he smiles tightly at the two of them before picking up a pile of coloured construction paper from the edge of the table and placing it beside the larger pile growing under a huge box of crayons being used to prevent it from blowing around in the light summer breeze that’s beginning to wash over the forest.

“You guys need help with any of this?” he asks hesitantly, “I’m not really doing anything right now, so I just figured…”

“Yeah sure, that’d be great!” Alexia interrupts him with a grateful smile on her face that he can’t help but return, immediately reaching into the box to hand him a towering pile of boxes of friendship bracelet kits- he thinks that’s what the bright pink box being shoved in his hands says from what he can tell, anyway.

“If you could take the stuff out of these and separate them into piles” she points in front of him, where there are groups of different coloured string and plastic beads split up according to colour and placed in small trays “so that we can find everything easier, that would be awesome! Merci Lucas!” she pats him on the back with another smile, before moving back over where Emma is trying to locate some missing paintbrushes.

He finds himself lulled into an easy trance at the work, enjoying having something to do with his hands and his mind finding some calm in the task of organizing things by colour. He pulls the last handful of string from the box when he’s startled out of his focus by Daphne, who has bounded up to them excitedly holding a clipboard in the crook of one arm.

“Lucas! There you are, Yann said that you might be here” she says quickly, before he has time to question what she means by that “I was wondering if you could help me with a few organizational things before the kids get here?”

“Uh, yeah sure, I-”

“Great! Come with me.” She calls over her shoulder, already skipping down the path back to the main part of the campgrounds, and he follows behind her bewilderedly as Emma and Alexia laugh, pushing away the feeling of disappointment that has gathered at the realization that he now likely won’t be seeing Eliott again until later in the day.

******

******

******

He then spends most of the morning acting as Daphne’s shadow while she checks on everyone else’s progress and has Lucas complete a bunch of random tasks- well, he thinks they’re random, but he wouldn’t dare say this to her.

A few hours later when they’ve just finished getting everything ready and everyone has been summoned back to the main entrance of the campgrounds, the air is soon filled with the sounds of car wheels spinning on gravel before slowly coming to a crunching stop, dust gathering around them, and of heavy doors closing with a thud as bags are gathered and kids spill out onto the grass, their parents trailing behind. Children run to meet their friends, laughing and talking about what’s happened in their lives during the 10 months they were away, before their parents come to steal them away, bending down onto their knees to remind them of things like, _I expect you to be on your best behaviour while you’re here,_ or _if you ever need help make sure to ask one of the adults,_ and _I love you,_ said with a kiss to the forehead or a ruffle of hair before they’re pushed away to rejoin their friends.

Lucas also recognizes the looks of fear on some of the younger kids’ faces, their eyes wide and watery as they cling to their mothers’ legs or hide their faces in their chests, eyes clenched shut tightly to prevent tears from spilling out. He watches as some of the older staff members approach the kids gently, smiling at them and offering bribes in overly cheerful voices to coax them out of the parking lot, like _why don’t you stay with me for a bit,_ and _do you want to come and see the fun playground we have?_ as their parents look on with tired but grateful smiles.

He also stops to greet a few of the kids who remember him from last year and want to give him high-fives while they recount all of the awesome things they did since they last saw him.

The excited, happy energy of everyone is thick in the air as he turns to go back to the camp’s main entrance, and he takes his place in the line of counsellors that have gathered behind Thomas for what he refers to with a great flourish as “the opening ceremony”.

“Welcome everyone to Echo Hill! We’re all really excited to have you here, and we hope you’re excited to have a great two months filled with loads of fun camp activities!” he says into his purple megaphone, sounding a bit like a game-show announcer and as though he’s reciting a pre-written speech (which, okay, now that Lucas thinks about it, he probably is), and he looks around to see looks of unfiltered excitement on many of the kids’ faces, some still clouded by fear or apprehension, while the counsellors look on in various states of either tiredness or subtle but fond rolling of eyes, or in Daphne’s case, excitement to rival the kids’.

“First we’re going to introduce you to all of your counsellors this year- these are the lovely people who will be leading you around the campgrounds and running all of the activities that you’ll be doing.”

They all take turns calling out their names to the sea of children in front of them from their positions in a line at the front of the group, before Thomas moves on to introduce a few of the other administrative staff and goes over the camp rules (which Lucas thinks could really just be summed up with “don’t be a dick”, but whatever).

Once the kids seem to be growing restless (which doesn’t take very long) Thomas directs them into their individual groups, which for now are decided according to their ages, and the counsellors all split off to lead them to their cabins to put away their things and have a chance to meet the other kids they’ll be sharing a bedroom and living space with while they’re here.

“Alright everyone, follow me!” Lucas calls out to his assigned group, the 10-11 year-olds, unconsciously slipping into what all his friends teasingly refer to as his “counsellor voice”, cupping both hands around his mouth to amplify the sound above the now heavily overlapping voices around them.

After checking and confirming that he has everyone in his group and that they are in fact following him and not wandering off somewhere else into the forest, he begins walking down the pathway through the trees to one of the groups of cabins near the back of the campground.

“Hey Mr. counsellor, what’s your name again?” he hears a voice from the middle of the group ask after a couple of minutes, which is immediately followed by the snickers of his friends.

“Lucas” he calls back over his shoulder, taking note of the small blonde-haired boy that’s hiking the black strap of his bag higher up on his shoulder while leveling Lucas with a calculated stare.

“Hey Lucas?” the same voice calls out, the accompanying laughter growing louder.

“Yes?” he replies shortly, already anticipating the positively _genius_ insult that he knows from years of unfortunate experience is about to be hurled at him.

“Why does your hair look stupid?” the boy asks innocently, his friends now unable to contain their laughter as the small group dissolves into delighted giggles.

_Here we go,_ he thinks to himself with a drawn-out sigh.

Lucas rolls his eyes and drags a hand over his face, barely resisting the urge to turn around and put this kid in his place, but he knows he’ll be dealing with much worse in the upcoming weeks and also kind of doesn’t want to gain the reputation of being the camp’s resident hard-ass on the first day, and he’s also just too tired to even think straight right now, so he relents.

Of course his friends never give him a break either, though.

“Yeah Lucas, why’s your hair look so stupid?” Yann yells out then as he jogs past the group, throwing what can only be described as a shit-eating grin at Lucas as he does so and no doubt taking great pride in the way the kids start laughing hysterically.

He raises an eyebrow at the middle finger Lucas manages to flip him pressed to his chest, hidden from the kids behind him, and Lucas hisses out a punctuated “not. helping.” as his friend keeps running to catch up with one of the other groups.

“Ha ha, I’ve never heard that one before. Any more questions?” He deadpans then instead to the boy, throwing an unamused look over his shoulder and then a glare at Yann’s back for good measure while stopping to let the kids at the back of the group catch up before continuing on through the campgrounds.

Just as he’s telling the kids to line up on one side of the path a few moments later so that he can fish the keys that he had been given to their cabin out of his back pocket, a gleam of familiar caramel-brown hair catches his eye in the bright late-morning sunlight, and he snaps his neck up to see that Eliott has caught up to their group on his way to the cabin just ahead of them.

He brushes a shoulder against Lucas as he passes him, leaning in to whisper “well personally, I like your hair like this” with a slight smirk, and Lucas absolutely _does not_ drop the keys he’s holding. He just doesn’t.

******

******

The first day went relatively smoothly from that point on, and once they had managed to get the kids settled into their cabins, they lead them around the campground for the rest of the day back and forth to different activities. He doesn’t run into Eliott again for the rest of the day, although part of the reason for this might be that he makes a pointed effort to avoid walking past the arts and crafts pavilion again, opting to take the long way around past the lake instead. And if by the fifth time he can see Mika giving him a questioning look from his perch on top of one of the lifeguard chairs, he chooses to ignore it.

Eventually the sun starts to lower in the sky, and he passes off the group of kids he had been in charge of for the better part of the afternoon to another counsellor to get to work gathering wood for the campfire, restacking the messy circle of rocks around it and pouring out the lighter fluid before the wood ignites in a spark of bright orange flames. He breathes in, the scent of the blackened ash filling his lungs as it drifts up towards the sky, which is now painted a brilliant wash of pinks, purples and yellows that he knows will soon be swallowed up by the dark depths of the stars.

Once he’s managed to get the fire to a point where it’s died out a bit and isn’t threatening to spill past the rock barrier surrounding it, the other counsellors begin steadily pouring in to the small clearing in the forest with groups of kids trailing behind, the spots on the carved log benches encasing the entire area quickly filling as everyone shifts over to cram in beside each other.

Lucas doesn’t notice that Eliott had also filed into the circle with his own group until he’s taken a seat beside the rest of the counsellors, and finds that he now feels nervous at the prospect of having to lead the group through the usual series of games and stories, a feeling that had become unfamiliar to him after his first year working here. He forces himself to redirect his eyes away from where Eliott is helping a small brunette girl climb over the edge of one of the logs, the way he holds her hands to lift her arms up above her head and gently pulling her up with a jump as she laughs delightedly making his heart beat faster, and he tries to focus on the group sitting beside him instead.

It had become a bit of a theme over the past few years for him, Yann, and Alexia to lead most of the campfire songs since they were the only ones on the staff team with any real musical ability, with the three of them playing guitar and Alexia providing vocals for anything that the kids might not know all the lyrics to. They start with the typical campfire songs that they do every year, with overly repetitive melodies and lyrics that Lucas knows will be stuck in his head for months to come. The older kids who’ve attended the camp before take pride in being able to teach the younger ones the accompanying actions to some of the songs, and soon enough they’ve settled into a calm, serene rhythm where the group feels interconnected, and Lucas finally feels like he can breathe a little easier for the rest of the night knowing that the first campfire of the year has been a success so far.

They then start taking requests, from both the kids and the other counsellors, which results in an odd mix of pop and rock music spanning multiple decades, anything from the Beatles to Wonderwall to Dance Monkey, as well as one boy who loudly asks if they can play Old Town Road, but Lucas shuts that one down pretty quickly.

As they pull up the chords for what they’ve decided will be [the final song of the night ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aokooixKIo)on Alexia’s phone, he looks up and directly across from him over to where Eliott is sitting, seeking out his tall figure in the crowd of kids that he’s surrounded by. But his concentrated stare is soon interrupted by Yann’s strumming of the opening chords of the song, his hands moving up the fretboard with a telltale squeak of fingers sliding against copper, and then Alexia joins in with the bassline before signaling Lucas to take over so she can sing.

He drops his head to focus on his left hand while his fingers wrap themselves around the notes, hesitantly plucking at the lower strings of the slightly beat-up guitar he’s borrowed from Yann. By the first verse he’s more or less gotten the hang of it- even though he’s not as comfortable on the guitar as Yann and Alexia are, and it’s something he only really has a chance to practice during camp in the summer, the notes are fairly simple and repetitive, a pattern that he’s quickly able to memorize.

He looks back up again to where Eliott is sitting, willing him to meet his gaze again for the first time that night, seeking out the stirring he had felt in his chest during that infamous tetherball game that feels like it was weeks ago now. Alexia ‘s voice climbs higher for the chorus, some of the other counsellors now having joined in as well and adding their voices underneath hers softly.

Lucas waits through another verse, still not being able to bring himself to look away from Eliott, who is now leaning down to listen to something the boy sitting beside him is whispering in his ear through cupped fingers, nodding intently with the corners of his mouth turned down and adopting an intently focused expression that has Lucas laughing softly under his breath.

Soon enough they’ve circled back to the chorus again, and then Eliott finally looks up and meets his eyes through a hooded gaze that makes Lucas wish it was him that singing the words, putting them out in the thick, warm air for Eliott to hear, for everyone to hear, to tell him how he feels.

Lucas honestly isn’t even sure what it is that he’s feeling, all he knows is that nobody else has ever made him feel like this, like sparks of a campfire escaping their place, as cheesy as he knows that sounds, or like the first burst of a firecracker beginning to explode. Not Sarah when he’d been in seconde, not whatever he’d had with Chloe last year, not even what he’d felt for Yann for a while, or what he had thought he had felt, nothing.

And now, looking directly into Elliot’s intense gaze and once again only being able to think of poetic comparisons to storm clouds raging in the middle of the ocean, waves crashing against rocks and the wind blowing through salty air, he can almost bring himself to believe that there’s a possibility that the other boy might feel the same.

The song ends as abruptly as it started, with the sounds of the guitars fading out softly as the strings vibrate, and the slightly uneven, too loud applause of the kids around him snaps him out of his thoughts, and he hands Yann back his guitar which he lays carefully in a case on the ground behind them.

Thomas stands in the middle beside the fire and thanks everyone for coming, calling out times that the counsellors need to be aware of for tomorrow before dismissing everyone for the night.

A few of the counsellors lead the kids out of the forest back to their cabins, and the rest hang back briefly to talk and compliment Alexia on her singing, before eventually clearing out themselves as well.

“You want me to stay back and help you put the fire out?” Yann asks from beside him while gesturing at the pile of wood and ashes at Lucas’ feet that has now been reduced to only a few burning embers, everyone else having left by that point.

“Yeah sur-” he starts to reply, before catching a glimpse of someone over his friend’s shoulder and realizes that it’s Eliott, who has now stood up from the spot where he’d been sitting and looks like he’s waiting for something, one hand raised to his mouth with his fingers brushing over his lips as though to soothe himself.

“Actually, no it’s ok” he pats Yann on the back lightly, searching for an excuse “I uh, have to put some stuff away anyway.” He moves to unlock the storage shed off to the side of the trees to return a few of the fire-starting supplies “I’ll be back in a few minutes?” he finishes, unsure why it comes out sounding more like a question than a statement.

“Ok sure” Yann replies as he turns to leave, and Lucas exhales at the calm quality to his voice, which suggests he doesn’t suspect anything is amiss. “I might be asleep when you get back though!” he calls out, and Lucas laughs while shooting him a thumbs-up over his shoulder.

It then registers to him that he’s now completely alone with Eliott, and after taking his time returning the lighter fluid to the shed along with a few other things that he can’t see clearly since it’s gotten so dark, he turns around to see that the other boy has moved to stand in front of the fire and is looking down where he’s scuffing one of his shoes into the dirt distractedly.

Lucas approaches him and breaks the silence then, softly forcing out a delayed “salut”. He turns his head to see that the other boy is shoving his hands in his pockets with a small, crooked shrug that really shouldn’t be as endearing as it is.

“Salut” Eliott replies after a beat, shifting his feet to turn and face Lucas fully and bringing his head up.

“I uh, I liked your guitar playing tonight.” Eliott says somewhat hesitantly, pulling one of his hands from his pockets to make an aborted gesture with his hand, which looks almost like he had been meaning to reach for Lucas but stopped himself at the last second.

“Well it’s not my main instrument, and I’m not as good as Yann and Alexia” Lucas says, returning his gaze “but thanks.” He suddenly feels like he needs to fill the silence between them, it growing thick and making his stomach turn slightly in the way that it feels unfinished, incomplete.

Eliott hums at that, looking like he’s about to say something else and opening and closing his mouth a few times, before he starts with a sharp intake of breath, “Look, I just wanted to… I dunno, apologize I guess.”

Lucas raises an eyebrow at that, unsure what Eliott could possibly have to apologize to him for since they’ve barely said three sentences to each other so far.

“For the tetherball game last weekend” he elaborates, and Lucas waits, still confused, for him to continue.

“I didn’t mean to beat you, really, I know you have this reputation as being the best and-”

“Wait” Lucas interrupts him with more confidence this time, a smile blooming on his face “are you seriously apologizing to me for winning right now?”

Eliott’s smile mirrors his own, involuntarily pulling upwards, lines forming on his face as his eyes reflect the burning reds and oranges of the remaining glowing embers of the fire beside them.

“Um, yeah I guess I am.” He says with a laugh, bringing his hand up to rub at the back of his neck.

“You really don’t have to apologize for that” Lucas says a few beats later, his voice growing softer.

“Well, how about we have a rematch? See if you can win back your title” He poses the question with a quirk of his smile and shoves both hands deep into his pockets, his face reddening slightly and seeming to turn a bit nervous as he waits for Lucas’ answer.

“I’m not sure that’s how the title of ‘never lost a game’ works” Lucas says teasingly, reveling in the way it pulls a short laugh out of Eliott that deepens the colour on his cheeks, “but yeah” he continues, fiddling with the strings of his hoodie before returning his eyes to Eliott’s face again, unable to control the flush that he can feel is forming on his own face. “I’d like that.”

“Cool” Eliott replies, stepping backwards slowly, seeming to slip into the darkness in a way that swallows him up like a wave “I’ll see you later then?”

“Yeah” Lucas responds, and with that Eliott turns to follow the path back to the cabins, the light of the fire no longer stretching far enough for Lucas to see him clearly.

“See you.” he whispers to himself, and to the glowing amber of the ashes below him, feeling warm inside in a way that he’s pretty sure is not entirely from the fire.

******

******

The rest of the first week passes by in a blur, filled with nights of little sleep, time spent running around the campgrounds all day helping out with various activities, being sassed by 10-year-olds on a daily basis, and many nights of campfires and singing. He’s so busy that he almost forgets about Eliott at times, only really thinking about him when he falls asleep at night and can’t bring himself to fixate on anything else, or the many times that he’s forced to listen to long rants about how attractive and nice he is by Alexia and Emma, or the few times that he runs into him and they make fleeting eye contact before passing each other as they lead groups of kids around to different activities.

******

******

When Friday finally rolls around it feels like they’ve already been at camp for closer to a month than a week, and Lucas is looking forward to having a slight break for the next two days since the weekend schedules tend to be less full and the days start a bit later. That night they forgo the usual campfire to play a hybrid version of hide-and-seek and capture the flag, with the counsellors on one team and the campers on the other. Playing the game this way means that they’re massively outnumbered to a point where it’s a little bit ridiculous, but the kids always get a kick out of it, especially if they manage to win, so it’s how they’ve always played it.

He spends about 10 minutes explaining the rules, having to repeat them about three times before the younger kids seem to fully grasp the concept, and makes sure to be extremely clear about the boundaries they have to stay within, lest some 9-year-old decides to wander off into the woods and goes missing (which happened one year when Lucas had been a camper, and he still shudders to think of the panic that had been visible on the counsellors’ faces).

Once everyone more or less understands what’s happening, and Yann and Arthur have emerged from the rows of trees around them where they’d gone to place the flags, he splits off the kids onto one side of a line Sofiane has drawn in the dirt in front of them with a pointed stick, and the counsellors gather on the other side.

Basile stands in the middle of the group holding Thomas’ megaphone, and somewhere in the back of Lucas’ mind he wonders where and how Bas managed to get a hold of it. After hitting a button on the side which sets off a loud beep that sounds a bit like a smoke alarm and causing everyone to cover their ears with their hands, he turns off the noise with an apologetic look and moves to stand on top of a tree stump off to the side of the group.

“Alright, everyone ready?” he yells, voice echoing around them as the kids respond enthusiastically.

“Ready, set-”

“Go!” and with that the kids take off running in all directions, laughter floating through the still-humid night air, tangling around the shadows of the tall trees surrounding them formed by the white light of the moon.

Lucas is immediately grabbed by Arthur and Yann, and they find Basile to circle around a second path which he hadn’t seen anyone run to yet, and they start trying to make their way through the woods to where the other team’s flags are.

Everything seems to move too fast around him, narrowing down to the wind whipping past him as he runs, his friend’s grasp on his forearm and the sound of their feet hitting the dirt, occasionally stepping on loose twigs and tree branches with a _snap._

After being rudely jump-scared by Mika halfway down the path, to which Lucas lets out a startled _putain!_ and a deliberately presented middle finger, they manage to make it to another clearing in the woods where the flags are lying out in the open, and he notices that a few of the older kids seem to have taken it upon themselves to act as guards.

After a half-whispered, mainly nonverbal discussion accompanied by a lot of raising of eyebrows and pointed fingers, they eventually decide to split up and each take a side of the semi-circle that the clearing in the trees forms, in hopes of sneaking up on the kids, which will allow them to grab the flags out from under their feet, and loop around to run back to their side of the woods.

He’s just about to carefully step over a large tree branch on the ground in front of him and wait for Yann’s signal, when a hand pushes against his shoulder, spinning him around to face the trees behind him, and it pulls him forward towards one of the cabins beside them.

He very nearly yells out again at the shock of being grabbed, before his brain catches up to him and he catches sight of a bright smile and deep, storm-cloud eyes.

_Eliott_

“What’re you-” he starts in a low, harsh whisper, but Eliott silences him with a finger to his lips, effectively short-circuiting his brain, until it’s reduced to a loud line of _he’s touching me he’s touching me he’s touching me he’s-_

“Shh” Eliott whispers then, still pulling him along behind him, until they reach the back of the cabin, which is completely obscured from the rest of the forest and blocks any light that had been coming from the front of the campgrounds.

He then stops abruptly and turns to face Lucas, leaning his shoulder against the wood wall that’s beside them.

“Salut” Eliott says then, slightly under his breath, and Lucas exhales a laugh through his nose at the idea that he’s just yanked him by the arm through the woods at night with no explanation and the first thing he says is “hi”.

“Salut” Lucas humors him in return, delighting in the way Eliott’s face seems to open up then, or what he can see of it at least.

“Did you see if anyone else got any of the flags yet?” he questions, suddenly feeling slightly guilty for abandoning Yann and the others and their attack plan, but he wills the uneasiness in his gut away stubbornly. _They’ll be fine without me._

“No, I don’t think so.” Eliott replies, meeting Lucas’ eyes.

“You don’t think so?” Lucas asks “but weren’t you waiting at the flags before we got there?” he asks with a soft laugh, and Eliott does that adorable shrug that makes Lucas want to reach out and wrap him up and never let him go.

“Well” he takes a calculated step forward then, the tips of their shoes knocking against each other gently “I wasn’t really watching”

Lucas leans in just a bit, subconsciously, and he can see the way that Eliott’s eyelashes form shadows on his cheeks, fanning out, and Lucas wonders if he would be able to feel them brush against his nose if he leaned in further.

“Ah ouais?” he finally manages to get out, his eyes flicking down from Eliott’s eyes to his mouth, which is now close enough that if he just leaned forward, just slightly-

But Eliott moves his head to the side a bit then, which causes Lucas to pout a bit and he very nearly lets out a whimper at the increased distance between them before the other boy leans back in again toward the side of Lucas’ face.

“No” Eliott whispers, the word spoken directly into Lucas’ ear, and he feels the way Eliott’s lips move against his earlobe, causing him to shiver slightly and a sigh to escape his mouth, and he’s so entranced that he can’t even bring himself to be embarrassed about it.

“I was only watching you” he says, clearer this time, as he tilts his head back to capture Lucas’ eyes again, and Lucas’ stomach flips at the words.

Eliott then starts to lean into his body a bit more, eyes fluttering closed, and Lucas moves to meet him, tilting his head up further. He can feel the warm puffs of Eliott’s breath on his lips, and then there’s the slightest brush of Eliott’s top lip against, his-

“Found you!” a child’s voice yells from beside them, and Lucas wrenches his eyes open in surprise, the two of them jerking away from each other before looking to the corner of the cabin wall where a few kids have gathered and are now running towards them.

Eliott looks at him, eyes slightly glazed over and unfocused as though he too is still thinking about whatever just happened. Then he’s grabbing Lucas by the arm again- Lucas entertains a brief thought in the back of his mind that this seems to be a bit of a pattern with him now- his hand reaching lower and lower until their fingers tangle together quickly, and then he’s being pulled around the opposite side of the cabin and Eliott yells at him to run.

******

******

“Wait, ok, so you fell back behind us, walked around us to the cabin and then got tagged there?” Arthur asks.

“Yeah” Lucas responds a few seconds later, reaching a hand across his chest to scratch at his shoulder and looking down at his feet, trying to get his friends to drop the subject.

“But then why did we see you on the counsellor side when we came back?”

“Uh-” he thinks quickly, his head flooding with images of Eliott to a point where he can barely focus “I was- Daphne came and unfroze me” he finishes quickly, hoping Arthur buys the excuse.

“Daphne!?” Baz jumps in then, pushing Yann out of the way to fall into step beside Lucas.

Lucas purses his lips, cursing himself a little for hers being the first name to come to mind, and he nods at the other boy, looking down at the path in front of them again.

“So we not only lost the game because of him” Baz says to the other two in a slightly outraged tone, his voice growing louder, before turning to face Lucas again “but Daphne came and untagged you when I was _right_ there?”

“Baz, Baz, calm down” Arthur cuts in.

“I will not calm down!” Baz yells, and Yann rolls his eyes with a tired groan.

“We had a strategy! A _strategy_ , guys! We were going to win, I could _feel_ it-”

“Alright, Baz, it’s over now” Yann says, punching the other boy on the shoulder lightly, and Basile opens his mouth as though he’s about to continue, but then thinks better of it and finally pulls back from Lucas with a sigh, and Lucas shoots his friend a grateful smile as he wraps his arm further around himself, the cold of the night finally starting to seep through his light hoodie.

They then round the corner to the steps of their cabin, and Arthur opens the door with a creak before they all shuffle in to find their things and get ready for bed.

Lucas finds that sleep comes easier to him that night than it has in months, punctuated by thoughts of the light of the stars reflecting into Eliott’s eyes as he smiles, the way his voice had dropped when he had leaned down to whisper into Lucas’ ear, the way his lips had brushed against Lucas’ ever so slightly. He smiles happily, pressing his face into his pillow softly, and falls asleep dreaming of what could have happened if they hadn’t been interrupted, if he had leaned forward just another inch, his brain filling in the gaps of how Eliott’s lips would have felt so soft against his, how he would have taken his bottom lip between his teeth and pulled, how Lucas would have sighed into his mouth and Eliott would have let out a quiet whine as his hand came up to cup Lucas’ face. Somewhere in the distance of his thoughts are his ever-present nervousness at whether Eliott really feels the same, or whether he just imagined the whole thing, threatening to spill out and overwhelm him, but tonight it is drowned out by thoughts of a beautiful boy made of summer sunshine, and then he lets sleep takes him, welcoming its heavy embrace.

******

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Next chapter: (coming closer to Thursday than this one hopefully) more elu content and ✨stargazing✨ ooooh
> 
> And [here's my tumblr](https://oceanicinception.tumblr.com) if anyone wants to come say hi :)


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